Archives: Testimonials

I wanted to get at the heart of diversity and inclusion, and what I found at Arbinger helped me go at a deeper level—deeper than I thought I could. Arbinger has given me a language to articulate these powerful and universal concepts. It doesn’t matter what your function is, what your job is, or what department you are in; as long as you work with people, these concepts are relevant.

Thanks to Arbinger and the meetings we had with them about thinking out of the box, developing an outward mindset, and helping others helped us realize the right way to do our work. We are no longer blaming each other. The very simple shift in mindset has made an enormous difference in the quality of our communications, quality of understanding, and cooperation between locations and units. Because of this new mindset, Staples has reached a new level of results.

Culture can be defined by what you celebrate and what you tolerate. Culture shows up in everything you do as an organization. Everyday we decide if we can create a great place to work. Wonderful culture takes a lot of curation and Arbinger makes that possible. The formula is pretty simple. Treat people like people.

Transforming the culture of a defense contractor to drive results

Our biggest challenge as the fastest growing town in the United States was how to maintain our small town feel. We asked ourselves what would separate an ordinary organization from an extraordinary one. We decided that it’s how people feel about the organization. Arbinger has helped us work with an outward mindset and have a focus on the impact that we are having on each other and on other departments. The common language we have because of Arbinger principles is the most powerful tool I have se

It was clear to me right away that Arbinger is not about training, and it’s not about soft skills. It is about exposure to a concept that you, as a leader, must think deeply about and then practice and work at. Seeing people as people has an accelerator effect that improves productivity and work culture. It has a huge impact on how we communicate. Meetings that used to take an entire day now take just one hour. We doubled our business.

Other organizations in our field wondered how we were succeeding. We got calls often. It was all part of a greater plan for helping employees and ourselves be better at doing our jobs. Two words that I have used to describe the Arbinger material ever since I was exposed to it, are fundamental and foundational.

Our team was so resistant to change and I could tell it was frustrating those around us. The naysaying and blaming made it way from the senior level down to the employees. We opened our eyes and decided that change was going to start with us. We elected to use the Arbinger process to get back on track. We seemed to find a new calibration with respect for each other and our roles. We started to respect each other. It was remarkable.

The Arbinger principles give you guidelines and a structure and enable you to be more effective in your day-to-day working life with your colleagues. There are inevitable differences in people, but Arbinger helped us move past these and accomplish goals together. People at OUtfit7 have started to look around them and see how they can help each other.

In meetings, we were good at fighting and digging our trenches. We were waisting so much time. With Arbinger in place, we stopped thinking so much about “what’s in it for me?” Now we think “what I can do to make sure we can all meet our goals.” Arbinger helped us flip the switch and now we don’t have to fight anymore. Now we deliver and we win.

I joined a business book club, and Leadership and Self-Deception was the first book I read. I just stayed up all night reading the book and thinking about it. It was immediately obvious to me that this was the way for my company to succeed. After working with Arbinger and applying the principles, our employees have voted us top workplace 5 years in a row.

Enabling collaboration through conflict resolution training

By shifting our focus from internal concerns to understanding and addressing the needs and objectives of others, we can build stronger, more cohesive teams. This mindset encourages empathy, enhances communication, and drives collective success. As we embrace the principles of “The Outward Mindset,” we position the Space Force to not only excel in our missions but also to inspire and lead in the ever-evolving landscape of space exploration.

Earlier this year, along with a handful of SeriousFun colleagues, I attended a training held by The Arbinger Institute focused on Outward Mindset and Outward Leadership. As the Institute defines it, Outward Mindset is a mindset that seeks “to understand and empathize with the people you interact with, whether they’re colleagues, clients or even strangers.” Put another way, it’s an approach rooted in active listening and support that seeks to help others be successful in their work and lives.

It became very evident that without changing the cultural structure of T-Systems, it would be very difficult to see noticable results. The cultural aspect of the organization is 75%+ of the change that we seek. The whole foundation of the Arbinger model really applied here. The concepts are so powerful in helping one become a better leader and enabling the organization to perform in a very different way. It’s the first time in 5+ years that the company has not been declining.

Going through the outward inclusion reminded me that it’s everyone’s responsibility to see people as people. Our environment invited fear that distanced people from one another. Arbinger fostered a safe environment where people had a positive influence on each other. Everyone is not only included but everyone belongs. I trust the content. It brings hope. Our employees now trust us.

Mobilizing employee support for business reorganization

Our culture was not friendly and warm and it was not productive. We realized that for the sake of the company, we could no longer cheat our employees or our clients. By applying Arbinger’s principles, we established a common vocabulary. We are now able to take an underperforming team and help them see the possibilities that they could turn it around. We were hoping for the best, and the best came.

At Tubular Steel, because of our leader, we did not have a spirit of collaboration. Pretty soon, a large number of people left the company. I gave up all my responsibilities and my job became installing the Arbinger principles. Over the course of a few years, it made a tremendous culture difference. We grew from about 30 million to over 100 million and more than queadrupled our profit. about The bottom line is that Arbinger can help a company make more profit.

We have now achieved some amazing outcomes simply by thinking of people first. Arbinger’s priniciples are as important as part of our strategy for achieving business outcomes as anything else that we are working on right now. Other people don’t think about “how are we seeing others?” When we put that in the forefront of the way Citrix does business, we achieve outcomes much more readily that we would have otherwise.